Samuel Gawith Kendal Plug

I smoke this regularly, I prefer it to the flake, it is similar but I enjoy the preparation & also have more control of the thickness etc & therefore the burn I find a grassy, new mown hay sense to the tin aroma & indeed in the flavour with a touch of sweetness. I like the roomnote but my wife accuses me of having gone back to ciggies. Overall I love this tobac & always have it on hand.It is my standard virginia.

I received a sample of this from P&C. Really I got it on a fluke On first glance this was not a broken flake as listed here, but a brick-difficult to break up, sticky like Molasses-yet smelled kinda nice. I broke a chunk off, and for lack of a better idea, ran it through a hand cranked nut chopper. Then left it out for a few hours to dry. When it seemed a bit drier, I lightly packed it in a Ser Jac Bent bulldog and sat down to play a quick game on my laptop.

On the char light- my game was forgotten. On came the nice sweet hay smell I so love about a good Virginia. Like new grass in a country field. Yet, this was much sweeter than any other I had tried prev. A nutty sweetness like honey roast walnuts. Rich like Mead on a fall day, strength is med to strong, and no bite. I was never one to believe there was a blend out there that come demand a daily position, But where has this blend been all my life!?

Did I really just say that?. I have smoked at least two bowls of this everyday since I got it. I received my first lb today in the mail. I bears noting that I have NEVER purchased a lb of ANY blend until this one. I jarred all but about 2 oz. When the 2 oz's nears the end, I shall order another lb and do it again. I can't imagine not having this around.

Now I'm not saying this is the only blend I shall smoke. But keep you eyes open, cause I will be lightening the cellar to make some room. Can't recomend this enough.

Lightly colored, beautiful plug. A bit hard to cut, but not as hard as Cob Plug. I like to rub out the flakes I cut though I plan to master smoking rolled flakes...so far that doesn't work for me. Excellent virginia taste, sweet and natural. This burns cleanly and smoothly and almost seems to become creamy throughout the smoke. If you enjoy virginia tobaccos and don't mind doing your own slicing, this is highly recommended. It's not as strong as one would think, nor is it harsh or overpowering. It is surprisingly smooth and mild-medium in strength and flavor, I would call it an excellent starter plug to those wanting to dive into plugs without getting a huge nicotine kick in the butt.

UPDATE: the review below is about 1.5 years old. it no longer fits kendal plug, which is now vile stuff: stoved to oblivion, a flavour of some additive, a little sweetness, tar. it is very very sad 🙁 END UPDATE.

some will find this tobacco difficult to slice, load, light and keep burning. so do i, but in spite of all that trouble, the reward in full, clean, sweet virginia taste more than compensates. and yes, it's clean. no soap here, no sweetener, no additives, no nothing but real tobacco, leaving a delightful after taste lingering in your mouth. as i said, it can be quite difficult to handle, but one in four pipefull is pure tobacco nirvana!

it is said to be exactly the same tobacco as "best brown flake". that may be, but it's got a deeper, more velvety mouth feel which is more akin to "full virginia flake".

a winner, and a favourite.

Kendal Plug is one of my main VA tobaccos. I like the depth of flavor KP achieves during the mid through the end of the bowl. I enjoy messing around with plugs, which is part of my liking of Kendal Plug. I cut a thin slice from the block, rub it out, and let it sit for a while to dry before smoking. I agree with the other reviewers who comment that KP is difficult to light. I find it takes a number of re-lights during the course of a bowl. There are times when I wish KP had a sweeter top note, like Old Gowrie. But overall, KP is an excellent VA, and if you like plugs, this is one you really should try.

This tobacco may scare at first sight: dark, compact, moist and musty. Actually, smoking it can reveal many surprises. It isn't "dark" in taste, quite the opposite: it's fresh, fruity, delicate and can be an all-day smoke. At a glance it can be seen as the Cob plug twin, but as brutal the Cob, as harmonic the Kendal. A real marvel.

I wish this stuff were readily available in the USA!

Kendal Plug is all natural tobacco -- no flavorings, casings, etc. It's honest, straightforward, rich, and satisfying. I'm able to smoke bowl after bowl with great interest.

The plug presentation is fantastic, as it gives great insight into Gawith's mastery of tobacco processing. The tightly pressed layers are fun to peel apart, but I found I enjoyed using scissors to slice narrow strips from the whole plug, then rub the cuttings out for the smoke. Fantastic. I tried smoking flake-sized slices, cube cuts, rubbed ribbons, and a myriad other formats and found the smoke to be consistent and wonderful.

Some may disregard this tobacco as dull, basic, or monochromatic. Not so -- and besides, the greatest pleasures can be derived from even the simplest things. This tobacco has a complexity and depth all its own, and while it's obviously more tame than some other equally fantastic VAs, it's in its own league. This ranks right up there for me with Gawith's Full VA Flake.

If you must buy this from an overseas vendor, do yourself the favor and buy in bulk. If you find it's not your thing, send it all to me!

This plug is strong and spicy ! There is also a certain mustiness in the taste. This tobacco might not be popular with some VA lovers, who rather prefer a smooth and sweet taste like Rattray's Marlin Flake e.g.. It is absolutely non-aromatic and has a delicate peppery component, which I learned to appreciate very much.

I do love it, and it is fun to prepare the plug for smoking. I try to chop this up as fine as I can. The best method for me is to cut off slices, which are then cut into small cubes.

It's a keeper, and I will certainly order more of it, when all of my samples have been turned to ash.

(from blind tobacco review)

Sample #1 (Christopher)

Appearance: This is a VERY cool looking plug (i.e. domino-shaped & sized) tobacco. The density makes you realize just how much pressure was used in the plug's preparation, which I assume was done by putting whole leaves on top of each other). The tobacco maintained enough moisture to be flexible, but I let it dry out for a few hours as I prefer a drier consistency. A visually stunning cross-section of striated light (~10%), medium-brown (~45%) & dark/black (~45%) leaf made me hate to break it up, but somehow I managed.

Tin Aroma: My nose is greeted with a pleasantly-musty, hay-like aroma that I associate with steamed-cured Virginias from the Lakeland District, and a refreshing, naturally sweet touch of zestiness.

First Smoke: Having never smoked a tobacco in this form, I peeled off a few layers in ¼? pieces, which looked kind of like fish scales. I loaded up a new Corn Cob ?Millennium? Edition poker (okay, so I made up a name; big deal!) and applied fire. I started this smoke on a clear day, around 32F, just after a decent snow fall. The air was clean and fresh, with a moderate breeze. There is some danger of a sting here, and some initial back-of-the-throat irritation. This is a moderately strong tobacco, with a pepperiness that is very pleasant, similar to Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake.

Once at a smolder, however, the tobacco settles down very nicely. The sting moderates into a lively, apricot-like zest, which I don?t often find in non-New World Virginias. The pepperiness also moderates, but leaves a pleasantly-sharp leading edge (of the extra-sharp cheddar variety). This edge rolls smoothly into a richer, toastier mid-range. While the finish trails off a bit, the room aroma seems to fill some of the flavor loss, quite uncommon.

I stopped smoking at the half-bowl mark to let DGT do its work. Four hours later I was re-lighting on my front porch, where picked up the pipe again about 4 hours later, on our screened-in front porch. If I didn?t quite hit ?the zone?, I came close via ?breath-smoking?, ?sipping? the smoke, and using my ?open? smoking technique. The ?treble? range unfolded serenely with nuances of browned (not burnt) marshmallow, a light mushroom-mustiness and a baking-bread aroma joining the apricot zest. These flavors evolved, picking up a burnt-leaf smokiness that nicely contrasted with a baked cookies aroma in the middle-upper range. The strength of the blend increased as well, but overlaid a caramel ?feel? and (hint of) flavor.

Subsequent Smokes: I smoked sample #1 twice more: Near-pulverized (coffee grinder) in my Savinelli Oscar 814KS Canadian, and in 1/8? cross-cut pieces in a Comoy Grand Slam Bulldog. The Savinelli emphasized the middle and bass ranges of this sample, eliciting medium-full caramel, and cigar/ground coffee bean, notes, respectively. The lower range isn?t heavy, but it is rich, satisfying and creamy.

The Comoy was similar to the corn cob pipe. By luck, it emphasized the lower treble range and the mid-range. The mid-level is less complex than the top range, but has the fragrant burned marshmallow, caramel, and toasty-sweet melange that, to me, is elemental to a good Virginia blend; plus a well-integrated mushroom-musty flavor flowing from the top range.. Slightly before the mid-bowl mark, hints of white chocolate and walnut develop in the mid-range and remain throughout the smoke. The strength increases gradually but consistently, but is shadowed by a complementary ?[[]?late-blooming brown sugar component in the lower register. In this and the other pipes, this burned completely to a clean white ash, a somewhat infrequent experience for me.

Summary: Sample #1 started out a bit harsh and potentially bitey in all pipes, but settled in very quickly. DGT worked very well. While it smokes easily under many conditions, breath-smoking will reveal much more. The choice of pipe seems to have a significant effect on the smoking experience. The top range had a very nice interplay and evolution of flavors as the bowl burned down. As a Virginia fan, the zestiness fell into my category two (cat. 1 being bright lemon zesty), i.e. non-citrus type (here, apricot), producing a sparkly butterscotch ?feel? and richness, in a way similar to Ashton Brindle Flake. The sweet toasty mustiness (like slightly-burned marshmallows) in the mid-range, and a rich brown sugar bass range nicely enhance and complement each other and the top range. Sample #1 has some complexity, though it isn?t in the Cairo-class, and it doesn?t have an ?obvious? lower range flavor, but it is a wonderfully satisfying medium Virginia, without any heaviness about it.

I will definitely buy this tobacco, probably in decent qualities, to store and smoke. I am pleased to give it an 92 out of 100.

(Post-Logue: I bought a pound of this. It is the plug version of Samuel Gawith's Best Brown Flake - all of the good parts with greater consistency.)